Hello David,
I did state in my post that I was aware of it's status. In the 4 yrs I have lived on this property I have been battling invasives of all kinds, Canada Thistle is not the worst of them nor is it the least! I have tried everything, including chemicals, to get rid of it but for me the process will take a LONG time. You see where the thistle grows I have bits of land that was once woodland and I have natives, black and blue cohosh...odd as this may sound, bloodroot to name a few, in amongst and between the patches of thistle. For me, the most effective way to get rid of the thistle (and not everything around it)is to chop the stalks half way down to weaken the plant and gradually the patches are getting smaller. At the same time I would like to grow some native thistle but I have found that the biocontrols are eating those too!
Canada thistle is noxious but oddly enough I haven't found that it inhibits anything growing around it as I believed it did...it does form "thickets" but introducing Solidago canadensis (yes, I know that's not Canadian either!) which is also weedy but perhaps more easily controlled stops Canada thistle in its tracks...it just can't compete with it! So interestingly in this area where you have stands of goldenrod you have NO thistle! So, that's my plan, cut the stalks and crowd the thistle out. However, if I cut the canada thistle stalks I am also probably killing a lot of insects (the biocontrols) that are trying to eat and reproduce on the thistle...so now do they look to other thistle species? There are native thistle species...these are also impacted but that's ok right?
And by the way...when I said this "But I won't get started on that one! " I was referring to the species that have been introduced to the woods by my neighbors! Asian bittersweet (bringing the trees down one by one), a new one, Aralia elata, Paulownia tomentosa, stilt grass (this one is much worse than thistle and I guess technically not introduced by my neighbors!) etc etc. So you see David, you got me quite wrong!
So, before you put me in a box and label me (incorrectly mind you) please give me a chance to ask questions and get some constructive feedback. Thank-you!
